Jihad al-Binaa is `too busy` to comment on US sanctions

Source: Daily Star, 23-2-2007
TYRE: The office of Jihad al-Binaa, a Hizbullah-affiliated development and construction company on Tyre`s Hiram Street, is more often than not packed with Southerners whose homes were destroyed during the summer 2006 war and who are dropping by to follow up on the reconstruction process.
The officer responsible for reconstruction in the Tyre region, Hajj Hassan Bailoun, told The Daily Star Jihad al-Binaa was first conceived to "to lend a helping hand to the Lebanese."
"We have been constantly on the run since 1993," he said. "`Israel` destroys and we rebuild."
Jihad al-Binaa has been involved in debris clearance and reconstruction mainly in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the South. Since 1993, it has restored at least 11,000 homes damaged or destroyed by "Israeli" attacks.
Dozens of construction sites dot communities in the South. Engineers and hundreds of workers wearing Jihad al-Binaa`s house-shaped logo can be seen in the vicinity of destroyed locations across the South.
With thousands of homes already rebuilt, workers are wrapping up renovation on an eight-story building in Tyre destroyed in one "Israeli" attack.
Jihad al-Binaa`s head of renovation in Tyre, Hassan Fayyad, told The Daily Star that his organization is a "social and developmental" one that has "no political activity whatsoever."
Regarding the US Treasury Department`s recent decision to blacklist Jihad al-Binaa as a "terrorist" organization and freeze whatever assets it might have in America, Fayyad said he and his colleagues have "so much work to do that we don`t have a single minute to spare mulling" other matters.
The Treasury`s statement on Wednesday had said "Hizbullah uses the construction firm to fulfill terrorist schemes, as well as to attract popular support through the provision of civilian construction services."
"Jihad al-Binaa bolsters Hizbullah`s public standing by rebuilding war-torn areas," the US Treasury statement said.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Hizbullah said the US is trying to stop the reconstruction of Lebanese areas damaged during last summer`s war with "Israel".
The head of Hizbullah`s media unit, Hussein Rahhal, said the US aim "is obviously the prohibition of construction," adding that the decision indicts the US government because it is "targeting an institution that is concerned with civic development."
Fayyad said the US allegations did not surprise him.
"The United States accuses everyone of being a terrorist," he said. "These accusations are only going to make us more determined to help our fellow Southerners," he added.